New research by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) has found that extreme heat cost India's outdoor workers nearly 9% of their annual income in 2024, with those in physically demanding informal sectors such as agriculture, construction, and transport losing an average of 6.6% of their salaries. The study estimates that 21.1 working days are lost per worker each year due to heat, and warns that repeated exposure could leave more than 26 million informal workers with chronic kidney disease over time. With around 550 million people employed in India's informal economy — where workers lack job security, healthcare, and legal protections — researchers describe extreme heat as a "poverty multiplier" that could cost the broader Indian economy at least £58bn, or roughly 2% of GDP.